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HCS teachers and students participate in International Coastal Cleanup

 

For more than 35 years, the Ocean Conservancy has promoted the International Coastal Cleanup (ICC) during the months of September and October. More than 16 million volunteers have helped remove over 340 million pounds of trash while collecting data on the kinds of materials that find their way into local waterways and oceans. HCS students and staff participated, ensuring that litter found on their school grounds and in local environments would not end up in the Chesapeake Bay.

 

Data collection is a key component of the ICC. Participation in the cleanups gave students a real-world opportunity to practice the science and engineering practices of asking questions and defining problems; interpreting, analyzing, and evaluating data; and obtaining, evaluating, and communicating information. Students understood the importance of accurately documenting and reporting their findings to the Ocean Conservancy, since their data will become a part of a 2021 infographic like the one below (2020).

 

 

On November 13, members of the Hampton High School Science Honor Society assisted with a cleanup at Dandy Haven Marina. Morgan Simms and Isabelle Kirabo who are in the International Baccalaureate Program and Evelyn Weekes of the Academy of Health, Human, and Financial Services worked with Tarrant Middle School science teacher Brittany Richards to remove litter from a two-mile stretch adjacent to the Back River. The group found that plastic and glass bottles, along with cigarette butts were among the most common types of litter.  Science Honor Society sponsor Kathleen Harrison encouraged student participation.

 

Ginger Spencer’s fifth graders at Forrest Elementary School did their part to protect local waterways by cleaning up two trash bags of litter from their school grounds on October 21. The sports fields adjacent to the school are used on weekends and, despite the available trash cans, litter is often left behind.

 

Seventy fourth graders at Kilgore Gifted Center, under the direction of teachers Michele Ferrel and Paula Larson, removed four trash bags of litter from their school grounds on September 16. Students were so concerned with the amount of trash they found that many have taken it upon themselves to continue to collect litter during their recess.